Quotes About Authority

To realize that we live in an absurd culture where we are taught absurd things by absurd people and threatened with absurd consequences for defying all of it is to achieve a level of contentment.

through the centuries men have formed concepts designed to check and limit the exercise of State rule; and, one after another, the State, using its intellectual allies, has been able to transform these concepts into intellectual rubber stamps of legitimacy and virtue to attach to its decrees and actions.

the left is the party of the educational organs, at whose head is the press and universities. This is our 20th-century version of the established church. Here at UR, we sometimes call it the Cathedral.

The Constitution is like a "No Guns Zone" sign for conservatives, in that the only people it would bind are those who are already generally honest and peaceable. The ones who would lie or commit harm would simply look at the piece of paper and scoff. With unrelenting logic, Spooner dissects the sanctity of the Constitution and demonstrates that it cannot be said to have moral authority over anyone.

A person who decrees "That's not funny" isn't in a position to define that for anyone, let alone everyone.

In order to get power and retain it, it is necessary to love power; but love of power is not connected with goodness but with qualities that are the opposite of goodness, such as pride, cunning, and cruelty. —Leo Nikolaevich Tolstoy

The idea that every government official counts as all-wise and incorruptible makes no more sense than the assumption that each corporate honcho displays flawless judgment and stainless ethics.

There comes a point in the career of every criminal defense lawyer when he realizes that what keeps him in practice are his prejudices not his principles. Suspicion of authority and contempt for the platitudes with which injustice too often cloaks itself can take you a long way but, ultimately, they are no substitute for the simple faith that what you are doing is right.

Thoughts of different species take wing and play round one another, responding to each other's movements and provoking one another to fresh exertions. Nobody asks where they have come from or on what authority they are present; nobody cares what will become of them when they have played their part.

The rule of law, properly speaking, is an exercise of authority in which the power of the subjects of that authority to seek and to obtain the satisfaction of their desires is qualified by the obligation to subscribe to certain moral-procedural conditions while leaving them to choose prudentially for themselves the substantive actions and utterances in which to seek such satisfactions.

The pursuit of perfection is far too important to be handed over to the control and direction of a set of people who by blood, force or election have acquired the right to call themselves 'governors'.

potestas is specific, auctoritas is extendable and can grow.

Even reason is individualized, and becomes merely the reasoning of an individual without power or authority to oblige acceptance by others: to convince a man is not to enjoy a common understanding with him, but to displace his reason by yours.111

Mastering others is force. Mastering yourself is true power.

I'm just as bad at following orders from men.

Listen -- strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government. Supreme executive power derives from a mandate from the masses, not from some farcical aquatic ceremony.

People who think they're free in this world just haven't come to the end of their leash yet.

That's the second time you've apologised in less than a minute, Remo. When you have to do that to an admiral it could be your career on the line.

It may take several times, but if you are consistent, they will learn to consistently obey, even in your absence.

Parent, you can't blame your children if you have trained them to obey only after several warnings, threats, an ultimatum or two, and finally with a gesture of force. It's not their fault. It's yours.

If you raise your voice when giving a command to your child, he will learn to associate your tone and sound level with your intention. If you have trained him to respond to a bellow, don't blame him if he ignores your first thirteen calm "suggestions" while waiting for your fevered pitch to reach the point where he interprets it to be a real command.

It just takes a few minutes to train a child not to touch a given object. Most children can be brought into complete and joyous subjection in just three days. Thereafter, if you are consistent, the children will remain happy and obedient.

As long as parents remain consistent, the child will consistently obey. This "obedience training" is conducted with quiet patience. The spanking is not punishment and is not very painful. It merely gives weight to your words.

A newborn soon needs training. Parents who put off training until their child is old enough to discuss issues or receive explanations will find he has become a terror long before he can tie his shoes.